Donations to Lalbaugcha Raja, a goldmine

Despite the nearly 50% rise in the price of gold since September 2010, devotees of Lalbaugcha Raja have possibly donated more of the precious metal this Ganeshotsav than last year.

As the Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal (LRSGM), the trust which organises Mumbai’s most visited Ganpati pandal, began counting gifts and cash donations on Tuesday, trust officials said that they expected gold donations to be around 7kg. Last year, devotees had gifted around 6.5kg gold to the deity.

The most valuable gift this year so far is a 1kg bar of gold estimated to be worth nearly Rs28 lakh. Another valuable gift, also by an anonymous devotee, is a 610g gold necklace worth nearly Rs17 lakh. A diamond valued around Rs5 lakh, a set of gold biscuits weighing 700g and another 100g gold bar are among the bigger gold offerings.

Nana Vedak, the trust’s official jeweller, said, “Gold prices have gone up, but devotees obviously are not deterred by the high cost.”

Other gifts include a Cartier watch estimated to be valued around Rs2 lakh, miniature gold models of houses, cars and cradles. There is also a platinum finger ring weighing around 12g and a large pile of silver gifts weighing almost 300kg.

Raju Lanjwal, LRSGM secretary, said, “I think the amount of gold will be the same as last year; in fact, gold donations could be marginally higher than last year.”

The donations are being counted at the first-floor office of the trust located in a building next to the pandal site. Nearly 50 trust employees and volunteers are taking part in the counting. A large group of private security guards is guarding the office. Counting is expected to go on for a few more days and the gold and gifts will be auctioned to devotees between Friday and Sunday. 

Counting of cash donations is also in progress, and so far, Rs6.5 crore has been sorted. Last year, the trust’s total revenue from cash donations and auction of gifts was Rs17 crore. “This year, the revenue is expected to cross Rs20 crore,” said Ashok Pawar, president of the trust.